Tornike Sharashenidze is professor and head of MA Program of International Affairs at the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs.

These shameful events posed new questions (or rather question marks) for the Georgian democracy. The country has achieved a lot since the collapse of the Soviet Union. It has effectively fought crime and corruption; it has managed to change its government through peaceful elections.

But is Georgia a secular state if the church can mobilize such a huge crowd and challenge the authorities? Can Georgia be a democracy when so many people do not understand basic values of liberty? These two problems may turn out much more difficult than corruption and fair elections.

But these problems are to be tackled immediately. For this, one has to understand what went wrong during the 22 years of independence and how it happened that May 17 became possible. This is a complex question, and so the answer is complex too. Let’s concentrate on the outstanding points.

1. The Georgian Orthodox Church. The Georgian church once played a visible role in preserving Georgian independence and the national idea in general. But since the annexation of Georgia by the Russian empire (the late 18th century) the church underwent drastic changes. Not only its autonomy was scrapped (and it became a part of the Russian church) but it became (like the Russian church proper itself) a subsidiary of the government. Of course, things went worse under the communist regime when church was controlled by KGB. It goes without saying that KGB influence could not be eradicated for 22 years. Besides, despite regaining autonomy Georgian Orthodox Church is still closely affiliated with the Russian church which still seems to be controlled by the Russia special services. As a result the Georgian church is generously provided with literature that condemns “the Satanic West,” “Masonic conspiracies against orthodox peoples” and praises “spiritual unity of the orthodox against the West.” It would not be fair to say that all of the Georgian clergymen are influenced by this propaganda but unfortunately there are more than enough. Their name is Legion and they are against Georgia’s European choice.

The Georgian church gained huge influence over the people due to the simple fact that Georgian authorities never were so popular given the difficulties of transition period – in wide-spread poverty and political instability church seemed to be the only institution that stood above the mundane problems and vanity. Realizing the increasing popularity of the church and especially its leader (patriarch Ilia II) the Georgian authorities (first Shevardnadze than Saakashvili) tried to turn the clergymen into their allies by granting them unprecedented economic privileges. As a result the Church receives a huge sum from the state budget and it enjoys tax exemptions (whereas it is vastly involved in commercial activities). Finally this backfired against the Saakashvili government. The Legion realized that by bestowing the above mentioned privileges Saakashvili merely tried to win time and keep the church quiet while he drove Georgia toward the West. Consequently these clergymen got involved in the election campaign of 2012 and contributed a lot to the change of regime.

After the elections the Legion became even more self-assured. When the LGBT rally was announced and when the new authorities supported the rights of sexual minorities the Legion was genuinely offended – they did not get involved in the regime change for nothing; they expected the new authorities to obey the rules dictated by the Legion (in better case they expected the new authorities to denounce Georgia’s pro-Western stance). On May 17 the Legion challenged the new authorities, it demonstrated its power. Now it is the turn of the government – either it repeats the mistake of Saakashvili or it reacts in a proper manner.

2. Education. The Soviet Union hardly provided education relevant for liberal values and democracy. Unfortunately since regaining its independence Georgia has struggled to reform its education system. Not only the elder people but the Georgian youth too severely lack civic education. The discussions among common people are dominated by conspiracy theories and evolve around mystical subjects. These people are easily influenced by the Legion.

3. Poverty and unemployment. As Georgia suffers from unemployment lots of people start to seek shelter in religious ceremonies, lots of people prefer to listen to promises about divine help rather than look for opportunities. Unemployed, poor people are always disappointed by their authorities; they are easily manipulated by the “spiritual leaders” and led against minorities that are blamed for their failures.

May 17 should become another turning point for Georgian democracy. It has made clear that the country faces a serious problem. If not the shameful events of this day the problem could be neglected further and the Legion would become even stronger. The Georgian non-governmental sector unanimously condemned the May 17 events and hopefully it will follow the problem to the end. Hopefully the authorities will do the same. If they do not do so then they will endanger not only their own position but the future of the country too. The authorities should start to apply civil code to the Legion, demonstrate strong commitment to the rule of law and finish with the interference of church in state affairs. Make no mistake: the church in West also committed various crimes and atrocities. This problem was solved only when the church was separated from the state and so it lost political power. Now the same has to be done in Georgia. It is not so easy but there is no other choice. It is now or never.

Nona Kurdovanidze Project Coordinator at the Georgian Young Lawyer’s Association.

There are no accurate statistics about the number of homeless families living in Georgia.

The homeless people have been particularly active in reminding the state of their existence following the October 2012 elections, when they occupied a number of buildings in Tbilisi, staged protest rallies, both illustrating the seriousness of the problem and calling on the state to take measures to provide housing. It is not my intention to discuss effectiveness of their protest; instead, I am going to address the state policy to remedy the problem.

First, we need to define homeless people. They can be divided into the following two categories: IDPs and non-IDPs.

The state employs two different approaches for these two categories of homeless people. It recognizes harsh social and economic conditions that IDPs are in and aims at providing them with dignified conditions for living. To this end, the Government of Georgia adopted several years ago a Strategy and an Action Plan for implementation of the Strategy on IDPs, reiterating the state’s obligation for reintegration and long-term settlement of IDPs.

There are around 270 000 IDPs living in Georgia. As of December 2012, since 2009 when the Action Plan was adopted, total of 82 559 IDPs (27 202 families) have been provided with durable housing, and 12 229 IDPs (5 263 families) have received pecuniary compensation that they chose over a housing. The data illustrates that the problem of IDP settlement remains unsolved due to slow implementation of the Action Plan or other reasons.

As to providing homeless non-IDPs with housing, even though by joining applicable international agreements the government of Georgia has recognized the right to adequate housing, it has not yet elaborated a unified vision for addressing the problem. National legislation stipulates the state’s obligation to provide shelter (a place to stay overnight and food) for the homeless; further, the Social Services Agency has an obligation to maintain a unified register of homeless people registered with local self-government authorities. Nevertheless, legal gaps hinder maintaining the unified register and therefore, accurate statistics on the number of homeless families in Georgia are not available.

Absence of data makes it impossible for the state to plan and implement an effective policy for tackling the problem.

President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, is visiting Thailand. (Photo posted on the president’s Facebook page.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–President Mikheil Saakashvili again asks members of the Georgian Dream coalition to go on visits abroad together with him.

The president on Sunday left for Thailand in order to participate in the second Asia-Pacific Water Summit, as well as to hold bilateral meetings.

Before leaving, he told journalists that in the current situation, Georgia needs diplomatic actions, while Russia attempts to legalize the occupation of Georgian territories.

“This is a summit of Asian countries and this is a place where a whole number of risk group countries’ representatives will come. But the problems is that our delegation arrived and there is no Foreign Affairs Ministry with us,” he said, adding that it is important that a minister also went on visits and work on issues which are significant for the country.

The president said he is surprised that the Foreign Ministry didn’t send anyone, when was well aware of the summit months ago.

According to its webpage, the summit aims to promote dialogue among regional leaders in Asia and the Pacific about water-related policy priorities and commitments and facilitate more effective regional cooperation in water security in that region.

Saakashvili said he plans to leave for Ecuador for the inauguration of the president there.

“Ecuador supports Georgia’s territorial integrity but there will also be risk group countries, which Russia actively cooperates with.”

The president said his offer to members of the parliamentary majority still stands to come with Georgian delegations. He said this would please him as there shouldn’t be differences in positions about foreign affairs issues.

Saakashvili expressed hope that the situation will improve in Ecuador and that the Foreign Ministry will be present.

Victims and activists ask parliament to create a commission to study the crimes of the Saakashvili regime. (Interpressnews.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–Former political prisoners on Sunday held people’s congress at Sport’s Palace in Tbilisi in order to demand the restoration of justice and put the Saakashvili regime on trial.

The congress decided to set up a people’s movement with the same name: ‘Justice should be restored.’

During the congress, videos were showed of events of May 26, 2011, and November 7, 2007, when the governments of President Mikheil Saakashvili used force to disperse peaceful rallies.

Public Defender Ucha Nanuashvili was also invited.

“We are already studying certain cases,” he said. “Like the cases when a person has a certain status but the conviction wasn’t removed from their record. Many cases haven’t been published, many cases are top secret.”

The participants at the congress passed a resolution which asks the parliament of Georgia to set up a commission to investigate crimes committed during the previous government and give those crimes the appropriate legal, political and moral evaluation.

They also appeal to the international community to have a fair and objective position about the former government and the party of Saakashvili, the United National Movement.

Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili speaking at Police Day. (Photo published by Interior Minister Irakli Gharibashvili.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–Police Day was marked in Georgia May 19. It was supposed to have been held on May 6, but the event was rescheduled due to the Easter celebration.

The Interior Ministry used the occasion to present a new uniform, a shoulder-mounted video camera, a redesigned badge, new cars and a new website.

In Tbilisi, 50 policemen were awarded extinctions for their merits, while policemen were also awarded in other regions of Georgia.

400 new Skoda patrol cars and motorcycles of the brands Suzuki, Honda and Yamaha were given to the patrol police department. The presentation ceremony was held at the glass building of the Interior Ministry, referred to by some locals as «the shark».

The ceremony attended by the Prime Minister, the Speaker of Parliament, other members of parliament, government members and foreign diplomats.

The Interior Ministry presented new draft law on the police, the strategy for developing the interior ministry and a code of ethics for Georgian police. The draft presents a new concept for the police. It defines in detail the preventive measures and the legal basis for implementing the plan.

According to the ministry, representatives of Latvia, Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Romania and Qatari law enforcement body representatives came to Georgia to attend today’s ceremony.

Minister of Interinal Affairs Irakli Gharibashvili said there is a plan to build a memorial to policemen who have died in the line of duty.

Police in Georgia failed to protect gay rights activists, according to Amnesty International. (Interpressnews.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–Amnesty International says the police in Georgia failed to protect demonstrators from aggression on May 17.

The human rights group which has more than 3 million supporters worldwide believes that the police failed to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people who were planning a flash mob to mark the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, but Orthodox clerics and parishioners attacked them, and the event had to be canceled.

“Ironically this shameful violence marred a day that is meant to mark solidarity in the face of homophobic violence around the world, and it shows that the Georgian authorities have a long way to go to promote tolerance and protect LGBTI people and their human rights,” said John Dalhuisen, Europe and Central Asia Programme Director at Amnesty International.

Georgian NGOs that work with promoting human rights have a similar opinion.

Kakha Kozhoridze, head of Georgian Young Lawyer’s Association, said: “The Interior Ministry could not provide security and the police was inactive, so the crowd easily broke through the cordon and could not prevent violence against LGBT demonstrators.”

Public Defender Ucha Nanuashvili, who was verbally abused by counter-demonstrators, partially agrees with Georgian human rights groups. He said that at first, the police was in control of the situation, but after the chaos emerged, the police could not handle the parishioners.

Transparency International Georgia, GYLA, International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy and other civil groups made a joint statement and called on the Interior Ministry to bring to justice those officials who were responsible for the failure to adequately assess possible risks, to investigate and bring to the justice everyone who prevented citizens from conducting a rally against homophobia and abused them physically and verbally.

Repulsed by Friday’s violence, campaigners demand a proper investigation of every incident. (DFWatch photo.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–A peaceful rally to protest Friday’s violent clashes went ahead without serious incidents outside the government office on Saturday.

In the afternoon, LGBT activists and their supporters started gathering in front of the government’s office, the Chancellery.

As they arrived, there was gathered up to ten people from the National Front holding a large poster which read: ‘Homosexuality is a spiritual and psychological defect. Propaganda for perverted sexual acts and immorality should be prohibited.”

The Interior Ministry was notified about today’s rally, and the police was mobilized throughout the area. The police made a cordon between the counter-rally and the LGBT activists and prevented activists from the National Front to cross the line and go over to the other side, where LGBT activists were gathered.

During the rally there were cases when some of the counter-demonstrators managed to sneak into the other side and yell things like “you’re against nationality, against religion and the values of Georgians”; but the police forced them over to the other side of the line.

There was no physical confrontation on Saturday, only verbal insults.

The rally was held to condemn the violence by the Orthodox Church’s clerics and followers, who yesterday attacked activists for LGBT people’s rights. 28 persons were injured in the clashes, among them two journalists and three policemen. Only two still remain in hospital.

Participants at today’s rally demanded that the guilty are punished.

Lasha Jokhadze, Deputy Head of the Patrol Police Department in Tbilisi, who came to the rally, said that there has been launched several criminal investigations regarding yesterday’s violent incidents.

The rally was dissolved peacefully after one hour.

Priests removing the police barricades Friday. (Click to enlarge.) (Interpressnews.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–After the violence yesterday, a gathering is planned today Saturday outside the government building on Ingorokva Street 7 at 15:00 to condemn what happened.

Organizers say the goal is to condemn the violence by clerics and others who confronted the LGBT activists who wanted to hold a flash mob to mark the International Day Against Homophobia.

“We also demand to identify and punish the guilty,” the Facebook event explanation reads.

Clerics and parishioners of the Orthodox Church prevented LGBT activists from carrying out the flash mob event. Thousands of counter-demonstrators attacked a few tens of LGBT activists, whom the police barely managed to get away from the premises, but still the clashes led to more than 20 injured.

A support rally organized by youth was held in Kutaisi, Georgia’s second largest city, on Friday.

One of the organizers, Giorgi Kldiashvili, told local media that an unknown group of people dispersed their peaceful rally.

“We were protesting what happened in Tbilisi. Some people came and dispersed our rally, took and tore our posters. There were insults and attempts at physical abuse. Police wasn’t acting adequately,” he said.

Later, rally participants moved to the parliament building in Kutaisi. About twenty people participated.

Clerics addressing the anti-gay demonstrators with megaphone Friday. (DFWatch photo.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–The Georgian church is distancing itself from the violence on May 17, but maintains that LGBT propaganda is not acceptable.

Patriarch Ilia II commented on the violent clashes between his parishioners and LGBT campaigners in Tbilisi.

Ilia II called on the confronting parties to leave the streets on Friday.

“A person may fall into sin, this is a sin and no religion will support this sin,” he said at the airport before leaving for Turkey. “We should know that this is a sin to God, but we also can express concern and not intervene in private life.”

Ilia II called on people to leave the streets and ‘pray for each other’.

Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili said he condemns violence, and that freedom of assembly is fundamental to Georgia’s democracy.

The prime minister’s statement, which was published on the government’s official website, called on every Georgian to respect democracy and freedom of speech.

“Every Georgian citizen benefits fully and equally from this right. Acts of violence, discrimination and restriction of the rights of others will not be tolerated, and any perpetrators of such acts will be dealt with according to the law,” his statement reads.

According to his statement, more than 2 000 policemen were mobilized on Friday in order to avoid confrontation, but thousands of counter-demonstrators ‘overwhelmed’ them.

“Some of whom (counter-demonstrators) engaged in violence, broke through the police cordons and attempted to physically assault the LGBT representatives. In order to ensure the security of the rally participants, special forces transported them to an alternative location,” the PM writes.

President Mikheil Saakashvili also commented on Friday’s events. He said the government should not allow violence among people.

“I do not agree that today’s violence was a result of some actions of ordinary police and it should be blamed on them. It is a political responsibility,” he notes. “The country has a government so that the latter will not allow violence between people.”

Saakashvili thinks that violent scenes weaken country’s international position, when state has many international challenges.

“Now we should sit down both government and opposition, people of different views, and understand that we have one homeland and we want Georgia to become stronger, not the contrary,” he said, adding that they all together should negotiate to solve all those issues within the frames of the law, and only through dialogue.

Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry launched an investigation into Friday’s events.

The Georgian Orthodox Church mobilized thousands of people in Tbilisi to prevent activists for the rights of sexual minorities to peacefully mark the International Day Against Homophobia. (DFWatch photo.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–Thousands of parishioners and clerics from the Georgian Orthodox Church May 17 prevented LGBT rights activists from carrying through a peaceful rally against homophobia in downtown Tbilisi.

According to the health minister, the day ended with 28 injured. Two of them were journalists.

Even though there was no note or plan to block the roads in order to avoid incidents, the Interior Ministry closed off Rustaveli Avenue from morning. Thick police cordons were established on the streets in order not to let clerics and parishioners leave the area around parliament.

The rally against LGBT people started from early morning as parishioners gathered in front of the old parliament building holding nettles.

When asked, one of the women holding this plant explained to DF Watch that they were going to use them in order to ‘punish those who violate the values of Orthodox Christianity.’

At the end of the day, 28 people had been injured, according to Health Minister Davit Sergeenko. (DFWatch photo.)

“Homosexuality is genocide of our nation,’ ‘I cannot accept propaganda for immorality,’ ‘faggots out of Georgia,’ ‘we won’t allow Sodom Gomorra sins here,’ some of the posters read. Many of the protesters were dressed in black t-shirts, which read ‘the homeland calls on us.’

The majority of the parishioners and citizens against LGBT activists claimed they do not like gays ‘shown publicly’ and the majority of them considered today’s planned rally as some sort of ‘gay parade’, despite a number of explanations from the organizers.

“Do you like what is happening here? We should protect our children from this and this is my right. So if we talk about protection of rights, my right is to protect my children and my country from gay parades,” one of the activists told DF Watch.

LGBT activists started gathering at different spots on Pushkini Square, instead of parliament building. The plan was to held a 30 minute rally, but they were prevented from going through with it.

Soon clerics and other protesters broke through the police cordon and started running in the direction of Pushkin Square. The police tried to get the LGBT activists away from the square using buses and minibuses.

Protesters ran after the buses and attacked them. Some media outlets posted videos of how they attack and broke the windows of a minibus where gay rights activists are sitting inside.

Police wasn’t able to stop the crowd, and the cordon was finally entirely broken and the police freely allowed them to leave Rustaveli Avenue.

What was supposed to have been a peaceful 30 minutes event changed into confusion after thousands of counter-demonstrators broke through the police cordon and went after the LGBT campaigners. (DFWatch photo.)

The Interior Ministry called on citizens to leave Rustaveli Avenue, keep the peace and respect the law; however violent incidents took place several times at different times and places in the capital during whole day.

DF Watch witnessed a man hit by a car. During the incident, which took place close to Freedom Square, the victim broke his leg, while one policeman had a slight injury to his arm, while another policeman was taken to the hospital with an injured leg.

A journalist for Radio Fortuna was also injured. She sustained an injury to her head while protesters were throwing stones.

Imedi TV reported that one foreign journalist was also injured.

In all, 28 people were injured, according to Minister of Health Davit Sergeenko. One of them is a minor, four policemen, one of whom has broken a leg. Eleven are still in hospital.

After the first clashes, different information was reported among the protesters about the location of the LGBT activists. Hundreds of people were literally running in different directions in crowds to follow after them and beat them.

The running ended near Tbilisi Event Hall. Rally participants claimed that LGBT people were hiding at a local supermarket and were expecting them to come out, but they didn’t. Finally some of the priests addressed the crowd of activists via a megaphone and called on them to go to Sameba Cathedral, the largest church in Georgia, to attend prayer and then dissolve.

Counter-demonstrators besieged a supermarket, believing that the gay rights activists had sought refuge inside. (DFWatch photo.)

The Deputy Interior Minister came to Freedom Square in order ‘to negotiate’ with rally participants, but was threatened by a cleric.

“They shouldn’t start a rally here, otherwise blood will be spilled.”

Ombudsman Ucha Nanuashvili said at a press conference that the International Day Against Homophobia was transformed into a day of “revealing homophobia in Georgia.”

He said the police wasn’t able to maintain the cordon established in the morning.

“The ombudsman considers that despite its attempt, the Interior Ministry wasn’t able to organize to take proper measures,” he said, adding that the goal of the counter rally was not a peaceful protest but physical confrontation with LGBT people.